How to setup the material and properties of BillBoard Trees / Xtrees?

[nisus]

Hi All,

This issue has been bothering me for a long time... I just can't find how to setup Xtrees that work well in MR.

From scanline, I used to do the following steps:
- exclude receiving shadows to avoid unreal shadows on the tree
- set self-illumination to 100% (to get an even color...)

But it doens't translate well into MR... 100% self-illuminating sents out light... hum... I don't want this...
or am I missing something?

http://download.ams.be/CGA/ams_0343_ths_mgz_anim_ext_afwerking_20070906_0035_ kb___0000_bew.jpg
http://download.ams.be/CGA/ams_0343_ths_mgz_anim_ext_afwerking_20070906_0035_ kb___0150_bew.jpg
http://download.ams.be/CGA/ams_0343_ths_mgz_anim_ext_afwerking_20070906_0035_ kb___0180_bew.jpg



rgds,

nisus


ps: anyone knows how to use the (lume) 'facade'?

[nisus]

http://download.ams.be/CGA/ams_0343_ths_mgz_anim_ext_afwerking_20070906_0035_ kb___0210_bew.jpg
http://download.ams.be/CGA/ams_0343_ths_mgz_anim_ext_afwerking_20070906_0035_ kb___0270_bew.jpg

well, I guess you got the point...

No shadows, crappy light/dark look, wrong transparency...

Any help or tips are most welcome ,-)

rgds,

nisus

[Spacelord]

Nisus,
I find the best way is to use the ctrl_colors, do the gamma correction and you should get an identical match to your bitmap.
Well pretty close anyway.

cheers

[nisus]

the best way is to use the ctrl_colors
How can I activate this from within max?

rgds,

nisus

[Spacelord]

Go to http://www.maxplugins.de/
Download the ctrl_colors, theres a plugin with it as well as the mi files.

I think theres a thread here about ctrl_shaders.

cheers

[no_jey]

Perhaps your billboard trees have exclude shadows from their properties. We do have a project on which aerial view is a must to show the entire estate. I setup all the billboard trees as Standard materials (diffuse, opacity) and no illumination.
Here's a screengrab of that portion...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/jon31898/Miscellaneous/Billboard_models.jpg

Here's how it's rendered on Mental ray...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/jon31898/Miscellaneous/Billboard_render.jpg

...and comp to finish the job.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/jon31898/Miscellaneous/Billboard_render_final.jpg

One thing I've noticed is that materials with opacity is not working well when infront of Glass objects - just like on your image. Same goes if its rendered on the ground.

[moid]

Hi Nisus, Lume Facade won't work with Xtrees, it only works on geometry that has a range of normals that point away from the camera (like a cylinder or a sphere). And it tends to flicker from frame to frame if the camera or the object moves which is a real shame as it seems to be capable of fixing many issues from the description it has in the manual.

Sorry I don't know how to fix the weird issue you've got - unless maybe render the scene with the trees hidden, save the FGmap, unhide the trees, turn on the self illumination and tell FG to render without adding data to the FGmap? That might work?

[Spacelord]

Are you guys using the cutout or transparency for your tree alpha ? Using cutout I haven't come across this problem.

cheers

[nisus]

Hi Nisus, Lume Facade won't work with Xtrees, it only works on geometry that has a range of normals that point away from the camera (like a cylinder or a sphere).
Yeah, I tried it this way. Never got it to work. I don't know well WHERE the use the map, i.e. in what slot. I tried tons of variations but not ONE good result.


Are you guys using the cutout or transparency for your tree alpha ?
Cutout ;-((

rgds,

nisus

[hoppergrass]

Instad of just the two planes for the X use 4, Also turn off recieve shadows. If there is time I also put on some AO which helps hide intersections.

I have had more luck with planes that are curved both sideways and top to bottom. The trees then pick up more of the skylight.

JHV